Preventative Health Care - The Governments Perspective

Here's a letter I wrote for a school assignment directed to an Admin. at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid. Seems they have left out some information on a service they offer. Also the notion of meds. we have got to get it through the heads of the Docs and big industry that we need to get people off the meds and off the couch and start eating food that does not come in a box, a can, or a bag. If it did not come from the earth don't eat it.

Mr. Berwick,

In response to your post published on the healthcare.gov web-site. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the benefits of prevention and discuss steps and goals to consider with the progression of prevention through healthcare.
It is important to identify that preventative measures such as bone scans, colon-rectal screens, and mammograms are all important aspects of preventative healthcare. The fact that the services are available at no cost to the beneficiary will have the potential to create a positive impact on the future utilization of health services and costs in the future. As you remarked “you can pay know or pay later” can be viewed from two perspectives in my opinion. The first is the actual utilization of the preventative services in an effort to reduce the need of more expansive interventions designed to treat the illness the preventative screen is intended to detect. The other aspect helps transition to the idea of “time invested” with preventative measures. The notion of investing time spent at moments before a health complication presents vs. spending the time addressing the health issue once it develops. Which cost’s more? Is the cost of personal time more valuable than monetary cost’s?
One of the preventative benefits offered through Medicare at no cost to the beneficiary is an “annual wellness visit” with a participating doctor. As a young healthy adult planning for my future I believe this service to be an important aspect of health prevention. In my effort to plan for my future health I made efforts to research what is offered from this service and the potential benefits that may develop from its utilization. However, upon researching the link to the official US Medicare hand book provided in your post I was unable to learn of the intent of this benefit. It was not presented, I only learned of the “one time welcome to healthcare physical exam’. This leaves me bewildered in the sense that while proactive services such as education for nutritional modification and smoking cessation are offered, no where did I learn of any health and wellness approaches or guidance for physical activity.
In addition I am curious as to what proactive steps will be taken to reduce the number of medications people need to take. Would not encouraging people to eat properly and acquire the appropriate types of exercise help reduce and potentially curtail the need and associated costs of medications? Your presentation highlighted the fact that June is “National Prevention and Wellness Month”. My confusion lies with the fact that many of the preventative measures offered are at still some cost to the public in order for them to be implemented. While all of theses preventative measures carry merit, I am disappointed to see an absence of an approach to education with regards to proactive approaches that beneficiaries can act on for themselves through the guidance of the “annual wellness visit”.
In closing I am optimistic from your post that we are on the right track for health prevention through proactive measures. I encourage this direction but we need to continue moving away from the “biomedical model” for health prevention and move more towards the “biopsychosocial”. Having an “annual wellness visit” to encourage the investment of efforts through time to encourage health while still healthy has the potential to create decreased future costs as the result of complications from unhealthy behaviors.
Thank you for taking the time to present this information on the healthcare.gov blog.

Sincerely,
Emile Smith, PTA, CPT

Pain

Endless thoughts of nerve endings twitching in pain. Thoughts of lactic acid rushing and surging through my body fosters excitement for whats to come. Good times bring it on. To ride mono-cog, ya gotta love the hurt, the burn, the sting. That sting, that very lasting surge of effort that questions your motives to climb, to cross the line.